Making the Most of Social Media

October 19, 2010

The stellar success of creative marketing campaigns like the recent Old Spice ads has intensified the focus on social media marketing, leaving many companies to wonder whether they’re getting the most out of their social media efforts. While simply having a social media presence was once enough to give companies a competitive edge, it is now crucial that businesses actually utilize their social media profiles effectively.

In light of this, and in response to the questions we frequently get from our clients, here are a few tips for breaking into social media marketing.

Know your market

It’s an age-old adage, and for good reason. Understanding your market is the key in creating content that your target audience will enjoy and respond to. A younger audience may respond better to sleek graphics and short snippets of info, while an older customer base may prefer more focus on details – or vice versa.

In all things, moderation

One common mistake is to go overboard in your social media efforts. As you discover how much fun it can be to engage customers on Twitter and Facebook, it can be tempting to really give it your all. However, it is all too easy to overwhelm your audience, and if your output comes across as being a lot of useless chatter, you could alienate the people you most want to reach.

On the other side of the coin, it’s important to stay active – if you go long periods of time without speaking, you may lose a golden opportunity to forge a real bond with your audience.

To everything, there is a reason

Updates should be fairly short, sweet, and relevant. Each post should offer some value to its reader, whether it’s a piece of useful information, a great opportunity, or an entertaining diversion. Your fans and followers should look forward to your posts, and should think of your posts as a positive contribution to their feeds.

Reach Out

Social media marketing isn’t about talking to a huge audience, it’s about being part of a larger audience. You should listen as much as you speak. Read other feeds, post on other walls, retweet interesting content that you find along the way. You’ll not only broaden your own horizons, you’ll often discover even more interesting content to share with the people who have chosen to listen to you.

Review Your Site

Chances are, your site has a few interactions that your customers would love to share with their friends. Are you having a year-end closeout that they can Tweet about? Do you have an interesting product that they could share with their friends on Facebook? If even just a small percentage of your customers share your company with their social networks, it could mean a huge increase in exposure, and ultimately, a possible increase in your bottom line.

There is no doubt that social media marketing is a critical aspect of internet marketing. If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you develop a social media strategy for your business, give us a call at the number listed above or visit us at http://www.nationalpositions.com.